Laurie Halse Anderson Speak Analysis

“Control”, this piece of artwork, illustrates how the protagonist of Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, feels and sees the world after she was raped and abused. Both the issue of bullying and sexual abuse in Speak are worldwide issues that affect people on a daily basis, and need to be prevented.The words in blue are her thoughts as she tries to decipher if she was raped last summer when she blacked out at a party, and if she should tell her parents what happened to her. The words in red are the hurtful words her classmates say about her when they think she can’t hear them, and include phrases such as,”She’s creepy.What’s wrong with her lips. It looks like she’s got a disease or something”(Anderson 45), and “You’re a twisted little freak…”(Anderson 184). The black words in the center tell …show more content…
An example of this is shown when Andy Beast says,” I never raped you. I don't have to. You wanted it just as bad as I did”(Anderson 193), which shows an example of someone saying that it wasn’t rape because the victim “wanted it”, even though the victim clearly did not want it, and was therefore raped. I cannot see this point of view because freedom of speech does not mean that people can say whatever they want to say, it actually means that someone’s right to say something is protected within certain limits and can still have consequences, and dressing provocatively does not mean someone wants “it” or deserves to be raped, dressing provocatively is a form of personal expression and rape is never the victim’s fault since they didn’t commit the crime. My reasoning for choosing my stance lies in the fact that bullying others and sexually abusing/raping others is unjust and can ruin people’s